Have Cheetah,Will View #403 – “Planting Wolves” by Neda Disney (2019)

Its 11:15 pm
cold/windy/The Seeker

So as many of you may know,the cheetah and I are film/TV show reviewers. We enjoy those genres and we feel we’re okay at it. But once in a very RARE blue moon,we will get asked to review a book. At the time as I’m writing this,we have done three book reviews here on the blog. One I reviewed on my own and two others,a book of poetry and a horror anthology I did because I knew two of the writers. I have been asked many times to review someone’s book and even had a writer offer to pay me for my review but I have said “no” because they are e-books and I don’t do e-books. I never ask for a hard copy of a book because many writers are DIY and don’t have the money (nor should they) to send a press copy to a site that doesn’t do book reviews. But when I got a e-mail asking me for a review and a 8 Questions interview,I answered it. I explained my policy fulling expecting that the young lady who was working the book would move on. But to my surprise,she agreed to send me a hard copy and the week of Christmas,I got “Planting Wolves”. Now here is something else I never promise and that is a pre-determined review. I never promise good reviews even if a project is from a friend or from a film studio that has sent me a film to review,I only promise a HONEST review and if you like or dislike what I write,I also point out that my review is just two opinions and don’t hold any weight in the much bigger world. Its a basic “you asked me what I thought and I am telling you”. Its important to know that,a artist should NEVER let anyone dictate how they create their art,be it good or bad. If you decide to change it,its because you decided it,not because someone didn’t like it.

That said….yeah,I read “Planting Wolves” and I didn’t like it at all. It reminded me of watching “A Ghost Story” and thinking how the film’s director made that movie for just one person,himself. I got the same exact vibe from “Planting Wolves”. Disney has written six stories about six different characters who have somehow been connected through an event and we meet each one. The writer,the housewife,the film PA,the sponsor,the actor and the wardrobe worker. In that order we are treated to a self-important mish-mash of off the way topics that in no way have anything to do with the central character of that chapter. Disney is writing to hear herself talk and she gets lost in her own efforts of trying to be clever. I thought the book MIGHT take off with the chapter called “Rodney”. Rodney is the most interesting chapter and he the most interesting character especially once he develops a stigmata but true to form,Disney doesn’t explain why or how he got it and we leave feeling completely frustrated. Instead we get more rambling on with no answers or even simple explainations. At the end of reading “Planting Wolves” I felt like I had been mailed Neda’s personal journal and not a book that I wanted to read.

“Planting Wolves” can be purchased on the websiteof Amazon.Now while the book wasn’t for me,I’m still game for a interview but I’m betting I’m going to get a hard pass on that.

I hope you don’t get a pass and the author does an interview. Id like to know more about why she structured the stories in that order and how she came up with so many unlikeable characters. I have some interest in Literary Fiction, work that is heavy on the theme more than plot. I’ll take a listen using the audio format. Whether or not I like it, I appreciate the Cheetah and your honest review.

I just finished the audio version of Planting Wolves. I liked it because Neda wrote the story as literary fiction, something that I’m trying to learn at the moment. Dialogue is one of my strong points so her prose in the book checked off points I need to learn.

The plot was secondary, with a “planting wolves” metaphor to explain the character’s displacement and loneliness. I’m writing a short story that will contain some of these elements. Not my usual style, but I must try new things to grow as a writer. 😊